It’s an exciting time. You have a company and go through the process to name it. You create a logo you are proud of to tell people who you are. You print business cards, create a website, launch a marketing campaign and boom – you’re off!

But there is more to branding than all of this. How people will continue to remember you will all depend on the quality of your branding strategy – your continued efforts in marketing yourself. You may have one hell of a logo, a great, catchy name for your amazing product, and have run a really cool campaign, but if your overall strategy and branding is inconsistent, you may kill that longevity you desire.

To make my point more tangible, here’s a fun exercise:

The Letter Game
We are going to play a few games to test our knowledge of some big brands. Think you can guess the brand by merely seeing a letter of its name? Try for yourself.

So…how’d you do? I got all but two on the first try (never did like #7’s version anyway so that’s my excuse for missing it)! I’m rather impressed with myself, I must say. By just seeing the letter of a logo, I knew what the brand was!

The Symbol Game
Ok, let’s try our hand at a different method. Logo symbols. This quiz is going to show us a piece of a logo, and our job is to guess the brand correctly…and you’re off!

Did you enjoy this quiz? I scored a 70% – I’m admittedly disappointed, so chose the next quiz based on something I feel I could excel at – fast food logos!

The Fast Food Game
I ate a good amount of fast food in my college days, so why not? Can you guess what the scribbled out image is?

24 for 27! Not to shabby! All those years eating it paid off! Or did it.

The Point
In truth, it isn’t my eating at those places that enables me to remember them. Nor was it my kick-ass memory that helped me to pick out a company based on a letter. We recognized the logos, because these brands have one thing in common: They took extensive efforts to brand themselves well, so that they became recognizable. Through their messaging, the commercials, packaging, ads, they achieve brand consistency! Making sure all the marketing pieces are cohesive. Beyond just a logo, they made their brand mean something – and they stand behind that message in everything they do.

Successful branding is very evident when I mention Apple, Coca-Cola, or McDonald’s and Starbucks. You know who they companies are. You know what they do and what they are about,. Their brand tells the world “this is who we are.” In fact some can be considered iconic. Can the same be said about your brand?

Oh and in case you would like a good article on “what not to do” check out this one written by Biance Male. Good insight!